Moldable phenolic pentosan material



Patented Mar. 24, 1931 UNITED/ESTATES PATENT OFFICE DMD/B. SWEENEY, or nuns, IOWA, ASSIGNOR 'ro IOWA STATE} COLLEGE or AGRI- OULTURE AND Mncmmcnms, or AMES, IOWA, A CORPORATION on IOWA MOLDABLE PHENOIJIC PENTOSAN MATERIAL Ito Drawing. Original application filed June 16, 1924, Serial No. 720,453. Divided and this application I filed. 'iune 24, 1925.

f The object of my invention is to providean inexpensive composition capable of .being molded and being hard and strong and hav-: ing a black shiny surface, which composition a is insoluble in water and a non-conductor of electricity. r

A further object is to provide a new meth; od for the production of a moldable composition, which method is simple and inexpensive 10 in its operation and may be commerclally practiced without complicated or expensive apparatus.

My invention or discovery consists in combining a pentosan containing material with 15 a phenol or phenolic material and subJecting them to the action of an acid liberating material to cause the pentosan'containing material and the phenol to combine chemically, into a black, sticky, tacky mass which on ag- 2 ing is capable of being molded to produce a shiny, hard composition,insoluble in water and a non-conductor of electricity. g I have successfully practiced my method and produced my moldable composition as 25 follows:

I-first reduce a definite quantity of corncobs, or other pentosan containing material, to sizes that will pass through a quarter inch mesh screen. I then thoroughly mix the ground'corncobs with sixty percent of their I I weight of crude cresylic acid (cresol) and ten percent of their weight of sulphur monochloride.. The vessel in which these ingredients are contained is then covered and subjected toa heat of approximately 100 C. for

three hours, at the end of yvhich time it is formed into a black, sticky, tacky mass.

This mass is allowed to cool and age. Aftor approximately forty-eighthours it is quite brittle and may then be. ground into a fine powder. The resulting powder is then placed in moulds either at normaltemperatures or it may be previously heated, and heat may if desired be applied to the moulds after the material is placed therein.' The material is subjected to pressure while in the mould. The resultant articles are baked at a temperature under 100 C. for several days, gradually forming a hard insoluble body, having a Serial No. 39,324.

black lustre. The articles thus produced are non-conductors of electricity. A

- These articles may be used commercially Without the baking process, but unless. baked they have a slight tendency to break down in water; The baking process, however, makes them insoluble in water.

" In practice with my method the action of the acid liberating material is thought to be catalytic in its nature and causes the pentosan, or possibly its decomposition products and the penol to combine chemically into the plastic material. The application of. heat during the practice of the process simply accelerates the chemical combination of the pentosan and the phenol.

Some of the pentosan containing materials which I have successfully employed in the production of my improved moldable composition are corncobs, oat hulls, corn stalks, cotton seed hulls'and peanut hulls. However, any other material which contains pentosanmay be successfully employed. In this connection, it should be explained that my method is not intended for use in the production of furfural, and in the practice of my method it is not even thought that furfural enters into the reaction as an inter mediate step.

For the phenol element I have. successfully employed crude cresylic acid, but obviously other phenolic bodies may be employed.

For the acid liberating material I- have successfully employed sulphur monochloride and antimony chlorides.

My improved moldable composition may e produced very inexpensively as compared with the cost of production of other compositions' having similar qualities, because the pentosancontaining material is very inexpenslve and can be obtamed 1n large quanti tles in almost any locality. The phenol ingredient is also inexpensive and readily ob- .tainable, and this is true also ofthe acid element. Furthermore, the process of chemically combining these elements into the resultant product is very inexpensive, quickly accomplished and may be done with simple and inexpensive apparatus.

The subject matter of this application was a divided out of my co-pending application for Letters Patent filed June 16, 1924?, Serial Number 720,453.

5. I ckaim as my invention: 1

Th method of producing a moldable material, which comprises reacting a solid pentosa-n containing material formed of ground corn cobs and a phenol composed of crude cresylic acid (cresol) in the proportion of cresol sixty per cent by weight in the presence of sulphurv monochloride, thelatter being in the proportion of approximately ten per cent by weight of the-pentosan' containing mater1a1,- and then sub ecting it to a, temperature of 100 C. for approximately-three hours. Des Moines, Iowa, February 28, 1925.

ORLAND R. SWEENEY. 

